Monday, January 26, 2009

Practice started last week and it has been a relief of sorts. Winter break sounds good, but eventually waking up at 11 everyday, jonesing to watch a Fresh Prince of Bel Air rerun while cutting chunks of your hair gets sort of old.

The Fresh Meat started training with us and the majority of them look super promising. I'm excited for them to get their own skates- skates that are actually controllable on the rink- and start throwing down. However, a few of them may need some hip checks, from what I hear. Ain't nobody rude to my other derby sisters.

Practices have consisted of 50% floor work and 50% actual skating. We've been doing a ton of squat exercises to get everyone familiar and comfortable with skating position.

My new favorite game is called Resident Evil, and I'm not talking about that bizarre video game involving pimply-faced teenagers and well-endowed virtual babes. It's sort of like tag; One person is the zombie and has to constantly make "zombie noises" while everyone else skates around the track. Once tagged, you must make zombie noises also and hunt down the other skaters. Eventually everyone becomes a zombie and we eat brains together.

Other derby news on the FOCO League- We are finally WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Derby Association) approved! This is crazy big. Not only does it mean that we are official, we'll also be bouting against many more teams. Word on the street is that we're going to have one bout a month.

Also: Cox and I made the Kung Fu Donnas! It's the FoCo Girls Gone Derby traveling team. Practices, which are in addition to our normal schedule, have been strenuous- but a lot more rewarding. The Rev (our wonderful ref) coaches us in breathing techniques and mind strategies, a la Bruce Lee. It kind of makes me feel like a ninja on rollerskates.

It's weird to think that, almost a year ago, I wasn't sure if I would ever get to bout. Times they are a changin'.